| Sterile. Not sure if that’s the word I’m looking for; maybe sanitised aptly describes what the world is coming to. Rules, you know, for everything; everything is annoyingly prim and proper, everything has a disclaimer tacked on. Smokers have not only to deal with a big fat sign broadcasting instant death, but getting their fix means getting out of the office, out of the building and on to a ‘public’ road. Receive an official e-mail and the legal disclaimer tagged to the bottom is ten times larger than the mail itself. A movie kicks off with the signatures of a bunch of old fogeys who’ve liberally wielded a pair of scissors to the clips of Angelina Jolie’s butt lest our ‘culture’ gets muddled up. And car companies want to save the world. Let’s get one thing straight – unless your car is parked in the garage, it will never save the environment. And even then I’m not sure it’s not doing any harm. Every kilometre you drive you’re dumping noxious fumes into the air for your kids to breathe, not cleaning it up. But okay, the environment is a big deal and so car companies have to make a big deal about saving weight, fuel and fumes. Toyota harping on hybrids clears enough of your conscience to buy a Corolla. But a supercar manufacturer? Trying to save the environment? You’d buy a Prius to save the world, not a Ferrari. Or a Porsche. But give either of them the time of day and a tedious discourse flows forth on how fuel efficiency has gone up, emissions have gone down and sunflowers bloom out of their tailpipes. And we thought supercars were for playboys to go fast, snag blondes in - and eff the world. It gets particularly disconcerting when the ‘last of the bad boys’ also starts talking about saving fuel. By its own admission Lamborghini is the last of the wilfully ‘out there’ car manufacturers – brash, sexy and provocative (and it has a lingerie showroom in Las Vegas to harp on the latter). Here’s a company whose cars are named after Spanish prize fighting bulls (not really a sport for squeamish vegetarians and tree-huggers), a company whose newest concept car is named after the sword used to pierce the heart of said prize fighting bulls and a company whose motor show stands drip sex (automotive and feminine). There truly is no other car company like it so when it starts talking about an 18 per cent increase in fuel efficiency, the question is: 18 per cent over what? 5kmpl? So our oil reserves are safe for what? Another 18 seconds? A similar percentage decrease in CO2, you start to wonder. Really? So Russian oligarchs have been holding back from buying a new Lambo till fuel efficiency went up? |
|
Tags: |
| Lamborghini Supercar Gallardo LP560 LP 560 V10 |
Comment on "No bull"
ADVERTISING
